Saturday, January 10, 2009

I hope you were here last Sunday for my ode to EVE in WALL•E as one of the best female "performances" of the year. I was joking but I'm completely serious about that great film's achievements... in multiple areas, too (I am sad that it will be passed over for a Best Picture nomination in two week's time. I've seen WALL•E three times and each time it improves). So, let's get serious now and talk Best Supporting Actress ballots ...sans robots.

The awards season races are always interesting but they can be so misleading when it comes to representing a film year. The field gets narrowed very quickly... and there are usually more than five noteworthy everything in a year. This is why I love StinkyLulu's annual blog-a-thon so much -- it honors so many women. In the interest of overkill, here's a grid of my 20 favorite Supporting Actresses performances this year (in no particular order)

But here's what I finally settled on for my ballot.___________Return and tell me what yours would say.

I still have 6 or 7 movies to see to round out the year (Rev Road, Gran Torino, Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Christmas Tale, The Class) so this list isn't complete...but here's who I would have on my ballot, in no order:

I'm voting over at Awards Daily.I'm trying to vote for some actresses who haven't been promoted this Oscar season. So my tentative list of five includes Hiam Abbass, Samantha Morton, Hanna Schygulla, Emma Thompson, and Kate Winslet (my one exception).

In a sad admission, only one of your final five supporting actress ladies has seen a release in Australia. However, by the end of the month Doubt and The Wrestler will be out, Rachel in Feb and SNY doesn't have a distributor here. :(

I don't think I'll ever quite get the Taraji Henson love. I just won't.

I'm surprised there's no Victoria Winge for "Reprise" even in honorable mentions. I didn't love the film half as much as you did, but I think her work is great.My list: Clarkson for "Elegy", Preis for "Four nights with Anna", Winge for "Reprise" and two boring ones: Cruz for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Tomei for "The Wrestler".Though I haven't seen "Synecdoche...", "The Edge of Heaven" and probably a lot of worthy supporting roles.Howler

I think I'm the only person who thinks Debra Winger's short window in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED as the Best Performance by a Supporting Actress. I know she's only on screen for a handful minutes, but can't you say the same thing about Viola Davis in DOUBT?

Why many people are describing Penelope cruz as "Latina" when she is from Spain. In any case, the Spaniard is a Latin, just like the French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.

Spain is in Europe! I do not want to invite angry and ugly disputes, but we (Spaniards) do not describe ourselves as such. When we come to the USA, we are described as "White/Causian".

Thank you! I hope I am not offending anybody. "Latino/a" is a very confusing term. Central and South Americans should decide how they want to be referred to as well. It is very mixed down there, just like in the USA. It is also important to notice that being "white" is ethnical as well because it relates to a common background and ancestry, a European one. We (white people) should be more sensitive to this matter when approaching our vision of other cultures and our own.

pablete --i changed it. And I understand. In fact, we had the discussion right here about Latina / Hispanic / Spaniard back in 2006 and I just spaced...

I was trying to get at the stereotype of the exotic foreigner... i wasn't necessarily thinking of Spain or Latin America or whatnot. In fact, I was actually thinking of Penelope's Sophia Loren/Anna Magnani phase... which is Italian even (not Spanish or Latina)... so i apologize. i was publishing in a hurry before sleeping.

Thank you very much for understanding, Nathaniel! I thought you were trying to establish a comparison between Penelope Cruz and the legendary Sophia Loren. I assumed that it was your intention to relate to the exotic North-American vision of the Southern Europe (Italy, France, Spain...),focusing mainly on its culture and understanding of live. Thank you for the change!

I don't want to go on or heat up a non-cinematic discussion. But I think in the case of actors, musicians, etc, it's themselves (or their managers, etc) who market themselves as such because the latino slot is much wider than the Spaniard one.

As far as supporting actresses go, I loved Cruz in VCB (haven't seen most of the others), and it made me wonder if sometimes leading thespians shouldn't take more supporting roles from time to time, as a kind of acting work out to get muscle.

my list is same as yours... however, I did not see Samantha Morton's performance ( a fine actress )... so I reluctantly am putting Winslet in the fifth slot, even though I don't care for the performance that much.

I'm surprised there's no Rosemarie Dewitt's lead rah-rahing here. I haven't seen Samantha Morton, so I'd replace her with Amy Adams. Hiam Abbass should have been cited somewhere too. I might have placed her over Viola Davis. She's awesome and all, but something about that scene didn't sit well with me.

thank god no taraji p henson one of those that gets me every year loads of buzz praise and noms i think she will be booted at the oscars in favour of tomei,anyone feel the supp actress line up may be winslet,davis,dewitt,tomei,cruz.

What about Any Adams in Doubt?Doubt is one of those movies where you get so caught up in the story and the acting that you forget it's just a movie. When I watch great actors like Streep and Hoffman, I always wonder about the different places they studied. A good acting school is worth it’s weight in gold. The key is to find one that caters to your individual needs. Not only do you need the basic tools for auditioning, scene study and the like, but you need a curriculum that works with whatever your schedule may be. Whether you work all day, go to high school or care for your kids, not everyone can study in the traditional way. Another acting program that works this way is Film Connection. http://www.film-connection.com/Acting.html The Film Connection’s acting program is affiliated with Joe Anthony studios and fetures valuable one-on-one mentoring. They are also available to anyone living in the United States and have financial aid assistance.